SONATAS FOR CELLO & PIANO

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The sonatas for piano and cello
Technical virtuosity was hardly a point of interest for Brahms, but he was very keen on colour and expression in any given instrument; a favorite of his was the cello’s warm sound.

Twenty years (1865, 1886) separate the sonatas n°1 in e minor, op. 38 and n° 2 in F major, op. 99, composed simultaneously with the second violin sonata, op. 100 and the third Piano Trio, op 101. Op. 38 was Brahms’ very first sonata for piano and another instrument; the first three movements were composed in 1862, the final “fugue” in 1865.

In the end he removed the Adagio and retained three movements: Allegro non troppo, Allegretto quasi minuetto and Allegro. This sonata, dedicated to the amateur cellist Joseph Gänsbacher succeeds in conserving a youthfully sponaneous character with its obvious references to past styles. Its first movement is in simply Classical sonata-form with three themes; the second delicately pastiches the French Menuet, highly popular with Haydn and Mozart, less so with Beethoven, and the Finale shows his admiration for Bach with an easily recognizable extract from Bach’s Art of Fugue. Twenty years later, the second sonata shows discretion in the use of historical models and paves the way for the future; many later composers – Arnold Schoenberg among them – respected and admired Brahms for his rhythmic freedom and contrapuntal mastery.

In four movements, the second cello sonata opens symphonically with a wonderfully Romantic statement, with a compressed energy worthy of Beethoven. The following Adagio is just as orchestral in its powerfully expressive melody that perfectly typifies Brahms’art; In the third movement, Allegro passionato, great contrasts occur between a shadowy chromatic theme and orchestral outbursts and an unreservedly lyrical trio section, and the Finale, Allegro molto, appears simpler and lighter in texture with a principal theme that evokes a popular song, but is just as brilliant in its ending.

Brahms had a special bond with his First Violin sonata, and during his last years transcribed it for cello and piano; it was published by Simrock in 1897 without the transcriber’s name. Brahms insisted on his anonymity and his name never appeared on the title-page of his transcriptions’ first editions. A closer look at the multitude of often extremely subtle differences between the two versions should suffice to convince any doubters that this is indeed another of Brahms’ alternate versions.